8 August

Freddie Mercury was an Asian rock star. His family was from India. In a lot of photos this isn't obvious, but in others it's unmissable. Part of his genius was to hide both his sexuality and his ethnicity, in an Anglo rock world that at the time had little tolerance for either gay or Asian people. Freddie Mercury was a character he created, with such force of presence that it bypassed peoples' usual critical framings completely. Those who knew him often remarked how shy and introverted he was off stage. He literally became a rock star to become accepted in the world, and not only that but to take control over it. The tragedy of his early death was him managing to pull off this incredible feat, only to collide with a pandemic. Paul McCartney said once fame is a way a person feels validated. All of our lives are about belonging.